Tribe House Blog

Jimmy Balfour – the rebel chemist video

A local friend of ours, Jimmy Balfour is about to launch his new album “The Rebel Chemist” into the galaxy but in the meantime, he’s released an incredible video with the first song on the album called “Leaf”. Jimmy often does live painting with his wife (an incredible artist Nikki Balfour) where she will spontaneously paint based on what Jimmy is playing – it’s just something you have to see (click here). But this new video is one of those videos that makes you say “How did they do that” and also words like “wow”. We had to share it and wanted to get the story behind this video so we interviewed Jimmy electronically:

TribeHouse: How many pictures did this take to complete?

Jimmy Balfour: I think it was around 2,000 pictures, 1 every 5 seconds.

TH: How long did it take?

JB: It was about 3 hours of actual shooting.

TH: What’s the inspiration behind this song?

JB: This song came spontaneously out of trying to finish a completely different song. It was really like a breath of fresh air. It captures the feeling of anticipation right before a new journey begins. It’s like standing right at the edge of the sea, knowing that others have gone before you, and that your time is about to come. It also has to do with the idea of transformation, and grace I suppose, but grace with a bit of angst if that’s possible.

TH: Was this painting spontaneous or mapped out beforehand?

JB: The actual painting process was spontaneous, but the timing was mapped out through the editing process to fit the song.

TH: What do you hope to communicate with this video / song?

JB: When we get it right, the fusion of music and painting is a powerful thing. It’s something we don’t even really understand, but that mystery is also what we love about it. The idea is that something can be beautiful and inspiring without the need for an explanation. It just is what it is. It’s not that the song or the painting are void of meaning, it’s just that the meaning can change and grow from one person to the next. Everyone looks at it differently, and everyone informs it with something different from their own unique perspective. So in a way it’s an interactive experience. That aspect of it brings us a lot of joy.